About

I’m Deb, aka CurlyGeek.  My husband came up with the name and it describes me pretty well.  This blog is all about being geeky.  I spent my childhood wishing I were more fun and social — but now, in my 40s, this blog is about just being who I am.

Obviously, I write about books — book reviews, e-readers, favorite children’s books, book stores, authors, literacy and education.

I read mostly literary fiction, historical fiction, historical mysteries, fantasy and science fiction, and some young adult/children. Lately I’ve been reading more nonfiction, mostly memoirs and books of a political or current events bent.  This is not a political blog but I make no attempt to hide my views.

I love books that take place in other times and other worlds, or with characters that have powers greater than our own.  I love books with strong, smart, multidimensional characters.  I lean towards British writers — Kate Atkinson and Maggie O’Farrell, to name a few.  Maybe because Britain (especially Scotland) is one of my favorite places.

In recent years I’ve made a real effort to read more diversely.  I discovered that most of the authors I loved were white. Reading more diversely has allowed me to explore different cultures, religions, and places. It’s not only made my reading more interesting, but I hope I’m a more open-minded, aware person for it.

My favorite place as a child was the library.  Nostalgia for me is going into the children’s section of my library and looking at those old books that are like friends still waiting for you.  Today I collect the antique editions of the Oz books.  I also love the old fairy tale illustrators like John R. Neill (Oz series), Arthur Rackham, and Maxfield Parrish.

After my husband, family, and my two cats, books are what I love most.  This may not make me an interesting person in the eyes of most people — but I hope it makes for an interesting blog if you love books as much as I do.

After reading, some things I like include: travel, genealogy, coffee, wine-tasting, gardening, and yoga.

Favorite Books Released in 2021:

• Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
• Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley
• Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann
• You’ll Never Guess What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamarr

Favorite Books Released in 2020

• Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
• The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
• The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

Favorite Books Released in 2019

• Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
• Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb
• Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
• On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
• Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl

Favorite Books Released in 2018

• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
• The Great Believers by Rebekka Makkai
• A Place For Us by Fatima Farzeen Mirha
• Becoming by Michelle Obama
• Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

Favorite Classics

• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• Emma by Jane Austen
• Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Middlemarch by George Eliot
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Favorite Non-Fiction

• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• Know My Name by Chanel Miller
• Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
• The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
• The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough

Favorite Contemporary Writers:

• Margaret Atwood
• Ann Patchett
• Kate Atkinson
• Maggie O’Farrell
• David Mitchell
• Barbara Kingsolver
• Celeste Ng

Favorite Young Adult Books (or Series):

• Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
• Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt
• The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett

Favorite Books I Read in College:

• Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy
• House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
• Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry